Repost: The Dragon We Got

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted October 06, 2011

About a year ago I wrote a reflection about trusting God in the process of adopting our son, Isaiah, from India.  I borrowed Donald Miller’s comparison of a father to a Dragon which he made in his book To Own a Dragon and applied it to a son.  For me a son seemed just as unattainable as a father was to Miller, as unattainable as a dragon.  I borrowed from Ursula Le Guin’s mythology of dragons found in her Earthsea Cycle to illustrate how special and magnificent my son was.  I concluded by affirming the faithfulness of God in keeping his promise to deliver Isaiah to my wife and me.  I referred to God as The Giver of Dragons.

Soon after that writing administrative pieces fell into place and we flew to India to meet our Dragon. 

A little under a year ago we brought home the dragon we got.

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Repost: Warmth

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted August 8, 2011

Sometimes God speaks to us.  Sometimes we don’t fully understand what he says. 

I have a story about that.

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Bearing the Lonely

On Sunday morning at 4:22am, my wife and sons left for a month vacation. I’ll join her after three weeks and take a week of my vacation, but for three weeks, I’m alone.

After she left, my Sunday looked like this:

Watched YouTube and Netflix and Facebook.

Slept a little

Went to church

Moved some bricks (patio work).

Watched YouTube

Facebook

Played Hearthstone

Ate lunch [Pizza, followed by rum & coke]

Slept

Organized our storage room

Read some articles online

Cleaned up around the house

Worked in the patio

Played Hearthstone

Ate dinner

Watched Netflix

Facebook...

Watched Hulu

More Facebook

Went to bed

Sometime, late in the night, I realized that all my actions of the day (including going to church) were motivated by a desire to distract myself from loneliness and I thought, “Maybe it’s time to write that blog.”

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Repost: There is Glory

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted July 31, 2011

Aslan would say this is someone else’s story, but I think he’d forgive me for telling it.

The family I mentioned a few posts ago who recently met their son, Oscar, continues to stick in my mind. 

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The End of Parenting

The Context

I think it started as a lack-of-caffeine headache, a slight throbbing around my temples.

Outdoor Adventure, PCM

I was with the boys at the Portland Children’s Museum while Candice got a haircut and facial in the city. I figured I needed caffeine and decided we’d just have to stop at a Starbucks on the way home (which we probably would have done anyway), no big deal.

The throbbing got a bit more intense as the pre-paid parking was running out and it seemed to be almost time for Candice to be done. I herded the boys toward the exit, we stopped briefly to pet a miniature pony just outside the entrance to the museum and made our way to the car.

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